'Huge Error': Former US Military Chief Admits Iraq Invasion Spawned ISIS

This is a powerful article. Over time I've been learning how important it is to not turn away with fear, distractions, polarizing, and other old patterns that cause harm. I've been gradually learning how critical it is to cultivate the courage and deep caring within my mind and heart to develop the skills and mindfulness to look deeper and deeper, to connect the dots and follow threads, to refuse to accept simplistic black/white answers, to discern what is propaganda and who can be trusted as resources of information and who can't, and to stay open to seeing my individual and our collective parts in fueling or in healing and transforming the issues which most impact us all today. Among my deep prayers is that more and more of us will engage in passionate commitment to lifting the veils of our ignorance and instead seek to discover and understand the roots of violence within ourselves and within this world we share. Peace is possible to the degree that each of us recognizes, embraces, heals, and transforms the roots of violence within our culture, our communities, our families, and our own hearts. 

Bless us all ~ Molly

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Published

by Common Dreams

 

The U.S. is poised to repeat all the same mistakes in Syria that it made in Iraq 

after 9/11, says former head of Defense Intelligence Agency

by

Nadia Prupis, staff writer

The Islamic State (ISIS) formed in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, said (Ret.) U.S. General Mike Flynn. (Photo: AP)

 

The 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq fueled the creation of the Islamic State (ISIS) today and must serve as a warning against similar rash military intervention in Syria, a former U.S. intelligence chief said in an interview with German media on Sunday.

"When 9/11 occurred, all the emotions took over, and our response was, 'Where did those bastards come from? Let's go kill them. Let's go get them.' Instead of asking why they attacked us, we asked where they came from," former U.S. special forces chief Mike Flynn, who also served as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), told Der Spiegel. "Then we strategically marched in the wrong direction."

In recent weeks, ISIS has claimed responsibility for attacks in Lebanon and Paris and the bombing of a Russian airplane over the Sinai peninsula, which together killed hundreds of people. Following the attacks, French President François Hollande vowed a "merciless" response against the group in Syria and Iraq—a statement that prompted comparisons between Hollande and former U.S. President George W. Bush in the wake of 9/11.

Echoing long-held arguments made by other experts, Flynn said Sunday that increased airstrikes and other offensives could be seen as an attempt to "invade or even own Syria," and that the fight against militant groups like ISIS will only succeed or make progress through collaborative efforts with both Western and Arab nations. "Our message must be that we want to help and that we will leave once the problems have been solved. The Arab nations must be on our side."

Otherwise, the U.S. is poised to repeat all its past mistakes, he said.

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